Best speculation of a 2023 6th generation I have seen

[mscot]

A 400-hp Tacoma sounds ridiculous, but a 300-hp RAV4 does too. And yet, at least one of them exists.

Having driven the regular hybrid Rav4 in the rockies many, many times, I would say that 300hp in that vehicle makes a lot of sense, b/c the regular hybrid motor is screaming going over the passes at speed.

FTR I don't think a 400hp Tacoma sounds ridiculous unless you're specifically saying that hoping Toyota would do something that awesome is ridiculous. :

 

[mscot]

Steady state up any mountain pass where the 1GR at 270hp felt anemic, the NA2.5 hybrid will be almost unbearable.

This. The 2.5h in a Rav4 is slightly better on a pass than the 4.0 in the 4R is. But only slightly. The real benefit of driving the Rav4 in the mountains (on road, of course) is that it handles so much better than the 4R does (or at least than my 4R) so when you get back home you're not as tired from the drive.

 

[Jetboy]

This. The 2.5h in a Rav4 is slightly better on a pass than the 4.0 in the 4R is. But only slightly. The real benefit of driving the Rav4 in the mountains (on road, of course) is that it handles so much better than the 4R does (or at least than my 4R) so when you get back home you're not as tired from the drive.

We have an RX350 that's basically the same car with a v6. It's hard to beat for eating up highway miles. It's not super powerful, but it's enough that it never feels overworked. Engine isolation is part of it in that you simply can't hear or feel the engine when it does down shift. I think it's also the steering system and geometry that really makes highway cruising more comfortable. In the RX just naturally tends to track on the road effortlessly where the 4Runner after a lift not matter how I setup the front alignment always required constant minor corrections. Over long distance that adds to the fatigue.

My parents have a Rav4 non-hybrid and it's great for most driving. It can always hold speed, just feels like you're punishing sometimes when it's hitting 5k rpms for extended periods of time. But the Rav4 is over 1k lbs lighter and probably has at least a 1/3 less wind drag vs the 4Runner. I think in a 4Runner with that same hybrid setup you would legitimately not be able to hold highway speeds up a lot of passes. I don't know how the grand highlander will do it. My guess is that it will not be able to maintain speed on some passes. It's just not enough power for the task. And that's just the car alone. I can't imagine doing it with a 20 foot travel trailer behind.

If the suggestions are correct that the Taco will only have the Turbo4 hybrid in the TRD Pro - I think that means that the T2.4 will be the other engine option for most trims. I can't imagine toyota deciding to kill the Tacoma. And going with the NA2.5/hybrid setup would effectively be killing the Tacoma. The T2.4 is underwhelming, but wouldn't be unusable.

 

[Blackwatch]

Toyota announced a Trail Hunter trim for the Tacoma. Most likely will see the same on the 6th gen 4R. Looks good!

2024 Toyota Tacoma Teases New Trailhunter Trim

 

[Jetboy]

Toyota announced a Trail Hunter trim for the Tacoma. Most likely will see the same on the 6th gen 4R. Looks good!

2024 Toyota Tacoma Teases New Trailhunter Trim

That's the first thing I've seen that is actually kinda exciting. All the ARB branding on it makes me nervous about how much it'll cost. IIRC the Tundra Trail Hunter concept was running PB51 suspension. It'll be interesting to see how that compares to the Fox TRD Pro. My expectation was that the Trailhunter model would fit somewhere between TRD OR and TRD Pro. But possibly it'll be in a position above the Pro in the price structure. Hard to see how it wouldn't be if it has bypass shocks, lift, and ARB bumpers unless toyota actually goes for a more Raptor level build on the TRD Pro.

The things I thought were interesting in the photos is that it has proximity sensors in the rear bumper. Not sure what the value of that is on a vehicle with a rear camera. My Tundra has both and I don't know why it has the proximity sensors. They are helpful up front where I often can't see very well. Other interesting thing is that you can see the tire a bit and it looks like the shoulder of a Cooper Discovery AT3 or something similar.

 

[elpeyote]

All the ARB branding on it makes me nervous about how much it'll cost.

The things I thought were interesting in the photos is that it has proximity sensors in the rear bumper. Not sure what the value of that is on a vehicle with a rear camera. My Tundra has both and I don't know why it has the proximity sensors. They are helpful up front where I often can't see very well. Other interesting thing is that you can see the tire a bit and it looks like the shoulder of a Cooper Discovery AT3 or something similar.

My guess is that a 6th gen Trailhunter 4Runner will MSRP in the low 60s, with dealers marking them up another $10k.

Motortrend says the tires in the Tacoma Trailhunter photos are Goodyear Territory MT.

 

[Jetboy]

My guess is that a 6th gen Trailhunter 4Runner will MSRP in the low 60s, with dealers marking them up another $10k.

Motortrend says the tires in the Tacoma Trailhunter photos are Goodyear Territory MT.

I'm not sure how that fits with the new Land Cruiser. It has to squeeze between the 4Runner and Sequoia. So the range for the LC will have to be between about $50 and 70k. A Trailhunter 4Runner that hits right in the middle of that range seems to be almost squarely a competitor. I won't understand the relationship until we see what the LC is I guess.

Edit: looks like they must have a different tread version of the Territory with more siping. After closer look by brightening up the image it does look like a version of the Territory. I was wrong. Also probably good news on size because they only currently exist in 33", 34", or 35" sizes. The Ford version has wider voids and straight sipes. The GM version has narrow voids and only 2 sipes per tread block, but those are squiggly. So this may be a new size and tread design for Toyota. It appears to be narrow void and extra siping.

 

[Blackwatch]

If the TH has the hybrid system I can see it costing more than the Pro. If it's just the 2.4 turbo then I would say $2000 less than the Pro. The only comparable that I can think of is the Tacoma Off-Road vs the Tacoma Trail edition for pricing. The Trail has less options but it's appearance and lift make it more visually desirable so they price it similar to an Off-Road. I still think there will be another 2008ish economic crisis in 2024 and not many people will be interested in buying new vehicles at 10-20% more than they cost now.

 

[mscot]

We have an RX350 that's basically the same car with a v6. It's hard to beat for e In the RX just naturally tends to track on the road effortlessly where the 4Runner after a lift not matter how I setup the front alignment always required constant minor corrections. Over long distance that adds to the fatigue.

I'm so glad someone else said this. A lot of the people on this board act like the 4Runner is one of the greatest driving trucks made and it's so far from that.

Every full size truck I've ever driven drives far better than the 4R. Hell our '79 Chevy Scottsdale long bed drove better. My '91 Jeep Cherokee was a better driver on roadtrips, too (although far more spartan on the inside).

It makes me wonder what these guys drove before the 4Runner.

 

[AZ Craig]

It makes me wonder what these guys drove before the 4Runner.

Likely an older 4Runner .

 

[KimchiJae]

The confirmation of a production Trailhunter Tacoma is an interesting thing. Chances are high that Toyota will also produce a production Trailhunter 4Runner. With the number of ARB equipment (read, expensive), my guess is they will be more expensive than the TRD Pros.

What I'm more interested in is how this plays with the upcoming Land Cruiser. This now opens up the possibility of a Land Cruiser with factory steel front and rear bumpers. Probably an optional dealer installed winch.

 

[Pedro367]

With the number of ARB equipment (read, expensive), my guess is they will be more expensive than the TRD Pros.

.

My thoughts as well. I'd imagine it will be a Pro, but with ARB bits. Like a Colorado ZR2 Bison with AEV bits. I see this being a direct competitor and zero chance we're talking less than $60k.

 

[KimchiJae]

It's got me thinking. The more teaser images of the Tacoma come out, the more confirmation we have that we basically knew what the 4th gen Tacoma was going to look like this whole time. The "Toyota Pickup EV" ended up converting to the gasoline 4th Gen Tacoma. Toyota was confident enough to blatantly show us a near production ready design 1.5 years ago.

As of a few days ago, it's now been confirmed the Crown Sport will be entering production and will hit customers in Japan in the fall. The "Crossover EV" has been converted to the gasoline powered Crown Sport. (Toyota Crown lineup - 6750775)

Is Toyota bold enough to have shown us already what the upcoming baby Land Cruiser will look like? Where the "Toyota Compact Cruiser EV" is secretly the gasoline powered MY2024 Toyota Land Cruiser? Or maybe wishful thinking.

 

[Jetboy]

I'm so glad someone else said this. A lot of the people on this board act like the 4Runner is one of the greatest driving trucks made and it's so far from that.

Every full size truck I've ever driven drives far better than the 4R. Hell our '79 Chevy Scottsdale long bed drove better. My '91 Jeep Cherokee was a better driver on roadtrips, too (although far more spartan on the inside).

It makes me wonder what these guys drove before the 4Runner.

If you haven't driven a completely stock 4Runner in a while - it's worth a drive again. In totally stock form with the OEM grand touring tires it's decent. It's still not as comfortable as the RX. But before I sold my 4Runner I returned it to stock as much as possible - what the dealer wanted - and it was significantly better for highway driving. Lifted with 33 or 34" tires - it was marginal on the highway.

I think an updated steering rack with a lot less feedback and more power along with updated geometry for better tracking when lifted and a modern powertrain are what the 4Runner is really missing. It's mostly the constant steering corrections and high amount of steering effort and feedback that I think is the key issue for highway comfort for me. No amount of change in alignment or swapping control arms really helped. Any slight imbalance and every road imperfection is transferred straight back to the steering wheel.

Compared to a wrangler - the 4Runner is a luxury sedan on the highway. Compared to anything else it's not so great. American trucks are ridiculously comfortable. I put a few thousand miles on a Ram 1500 Laramie and it was a very nice place to spend time. Plenty of reasons I wouldn't buy one, but on the level of comfort it was miles ahead of my 4r or Tundra pretty much across the board in every way as far as road isolation, seats, noise, power delivery, steering effort and feedback. TBH it was probably more comfortable than my RX as well.

The one that surprised me a bit was driving a Model Y. They are really harsh on the highway. Would not be high on my list of vehicles I'd want to take on a road trip even ignoring the charging part. Just not a very comfortable vehicle to drive longer distance for me. Possibly a model with smaller wheels and more tire sidewall would be better? It felt like driving a GTI or something like that.

 

[Jetboy]

Is Toyota bold enough to have shown us already what the upcoming baby Land Cruiser will look like? Where the "Toyota Compact Cruiser EV" is secretly the gasoline powered MY2024 Toyota Land Cruiser? Or maybe wishful thinking.

I think it's really unlikely that the compact cruiser will be the next land cruiser. All indications suggest it will be a 70 series profile with possibly rounded headlights for a retro look and share roughly the same powertrain as the Tacoma and 4Runner. I think the scale of the compact cruiser is more like Corolla Cross and less midsize SUV.

My guess is that a blend of this rendered style with the LC76 wagon boxyness on a 4Runner chassis is the result.

+

 

[KimchiJae]

I agree [MENTION=118321]Jetboy[/MENTION], there are also too many elements in the Compact EV Cruiser that look far more concept than production.

A J76 styled Land Cruiser would be amazing, more so if Toyota would allow their "fun" colors like on the modified J78 (Imgur: The magic of the Internet)

 

[Blackwatch]

This would be great, just offer the same in a 4 door model without all the tech crap with rubber floors and I'd buy it.

 

[mscot]

If you haven't driven a completely stock 4Runner in a while - it's worth a drive again. In totally stock form with the OEM grand touring tires it's decent. It's still not as comfortable as the RX. But before I sold my 4Runner I returned it to stock as much as possible - what the dealer wanted - and it was significantly better for highway driving. Lifted with 33 or 34" tires - it was marginal on the highway.

I'm on OEM size Defenders but the Eibach suspension is ****ing garbage. I have considered asking a couple of the local shops to hold on to any new model takeoffs they get and taking my suspension back to stock.

The one that surprised me a bit was driving a Model Y. They are really harsh on the highway. Would not be high on my list of vehicles I'd want to take on a road trip even ignoring the charging part. Just not a very comfortable vehicle to drive longer distance for me.

Same here. The body roll in such a short (in a vertical sense) car was very surprising. I generally thought it handled very poorly. I think they didn't figure out how to balance the large battery with the suspension system. Which isn't surprising. They're a software company. Not a car company.

 

[TexasFunRunner]

I think the Compact Cruiser EV concept style is headed in the right direction but the size seems comparable to the Jeep Renegade. If they want to compete against the Defenders, Wranglers and Broncos they need to scale it up some.

I think it's really unlikely that the compact cruiser will be the next land cruiser. All indications suggest it will be a 70 series profile with possibly rounded headlights for a retro look and share roughly the same powertrain as the Tacoma and 4Runner. I think the scale of the compact cruiser is more like Corolla Cross and less midsize SUV.

My guess is that a blend of this rendered style with the LC76 wagon boxyness on a 4Runner chassis is the result.

I think your first rendered image is starting to head down the better path, they need more FJ40 look if they claim it is going to be "retro", like the FJ Cruiser and the Compact Cruiser EV have. Perhaps all the conjecture of it being more of a 70 series profile is pointing to it being larger to be more competitive with the Defenders, Wranglers and Bronco 4 door models.

I sure hope Toyota offers a white painted hardtop for the retro look, no leaks and a quieter interior (vs soft tops and some removable hard tops). For icing on the cake, I hope they offer adaptive suspension for the 90% of the time we are on pavement.

My first Land Cruiser ride was in the 70's in a co-workers FJ40 like the one in the below photo.

For any of the Toyota Plano Headquarters people reading this, I live just 30 minutes from you, north of the 380, I'd be glad to participate in any invites you have to offer for either the new Land Cruiser or 4Runner showings.

 

[Jetboy]

New Taco images today. Front fox shocks are adjustable?? I almost missed the adjuster dial when I first looked at it. They are Quick Switch 3 shocks. I can't deny I like what I see. But I'm also scared of how much Toyota is going to think they're worth.

Also - appears to share steering tie rods with LC300. That's great news if correct. Aluminum spindle. Visually similar or identical to LC300. Control arms are not the same and clear differences in front coilover mount and no visible sway bar. Not sure how or where it's located. Best guess is similar mount to new Tundra (not like LC300) but removed for photo. Clearly not the same control arms as Tundra or LC300.